The Israeli military said Tuesday that it killed three members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon, amid fears of further escalation in the border area between the two countries.
According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, another two people were injured in the attack which targeted the town of Blida, near the Israeli border.
Hezbollah did not initially comment on the incident.
However, the group claimed several attacks on targets in northern Israel.
The Israeli army also said it had attacked additional areas in Lebanon with artillery.
The violence is stoking fears that the conflict between pro-Iranian Hezbollah and the Israeli military could worsen.
Since the war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7 between Israel and Palestinian extremist group Hamas, there have been almost daily military confrontations in the border area between Israeli forces and Hezbollah.
Deaths have been recorded on both sides - most of them members of Hezbollah.
The pro-Iranian Shiite militia says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and will cease its attacks on Israel if the "aggression against Gaza and the Palestinian people" stops.
After almost a year of constant fighting, there are increasing signs again that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon could escalate into an open war.
The return of Jewish refugees to their homes in the north of the country is now one of Israel's declared war aims - alongside the liberation of hostages from the Gaza Strip and the destruction of Hamas.
The only way to achieve this is "military action," Israel's Defense Minister Joav Galant said at a meeting with US mediator Amos Hochstein, according to his office.
So far all diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict with Hezbollah have failed.
Sources close to the Lebanese militia told dpa that they were ready for "any scenario."
"Our fighters have been ready since October 8," the sources said, adding that the movement's leaders have always affirmed they are ready to protect Lebanon from any Israeli attack.
Riad Kahwaji, director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), told dpa that he is expecting an escalation, but that the extent was hard to predict.
"It seems there are differences within the Israeli government on this question, and they don't appear to be on the same page as the IDF on this matter," he said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Kahwaji said he believes the Israeli army would prefer to see a ceasefire deal reached in Gaza before opening the Lebanese front.
Makram Rabbah, a political analyst, on the other hand, said he believes that Israel will carry out a ground operation in Lebanon, adding "it is a matter of timing."
But Lebanon's House speaker and close ally of Hezbollah, Nabih Berri, said he does not expect a large-scale Israeli ground operation in Lebanon.
"A direct, face-to-face ground confrontation with the Israelis is what we wish for and to us it is much better than mutual shelling. The enemy knows it will pay a heavy price if it tries to advance on the ground, that's why I rule out that it would resort to such a choice, unless it wants to commit a foolishness," Berri said in comments to Lebanon's Al-Joumhouria newspaper.
Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper, meanwhile reported, citing political and military sources, that Israel was closer than ever to a full-scale war with Hezbollah.
Israel is using all its military and diplomatic pressure to ensure that the Hezbollah militia withdraws behind the Litani River, 30 kilometres from the border - as stipulated in UN Resolution 1701.
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